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Misirlou (Μισιρλού) is the feminine form of Misirlis (Μισιρλής) which comes from the Turkish word Mısırlı, which is formed by combining Mısır ("Egypt" in Turkish, borrowed from Arabic) with the Turkish -lı suffix, literally meaning "Egyptian".

While the exact folk origin of the song is not well established, it's somewhere in either Egypt or Asia Minor. The earliest known recording of the song is uncertain. The Egyptian musician Sayed Darwish reportedly recorded an early version of the song as "Bint Misr" in 1919, under the Mechian label. "Bint Misr" means "Egyptian Girl" in Arabic.[2]

A better known early recording of the song was by the rebetiko musician, Tetos Demetriades, in 1927. Theodotos ("Tetos") Demetriades (Greek: Θεόδοτος ("Τέτος") Δημητριάδης), an Ottoman Greek, was born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, in 1897, and he resided there until he moved to the United States in 1921,[3] toward the end of the Turkish–Greek conflict during the last phase of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and establishment of modern Turkey. It is likely that he was familiar with the song as a folk song before he moved to the United States. Later, in 1930, Michalis Patrinos, another Ottoman Greek from Izmir, Ottoman Empire, and his rebetiko band recorded a cover version in Athens, Greece.[4] As with almost all early rebetika songs (a style that originated with the Greek refugees from Asia Minor in Turkey), the song's actual composer has never been identified, and its ownership rested with the band leader. Demetriades, who lived in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, until he moved to the United States in 1921 at the age of 23,[3] named the song "Misirlou" in his original 1927 Columbia label, which is a regional pronunciation of "Egyptian" in Turkish ("Mısırlı"), as opposed to the corresponding word for "Egyptian" in Greek, which is Αιγύπτιοι (Aigyptioi).

Initially, the song was composed as a Greek tsifteteli dance, in the rebetiko style of music, at a slower tempo and a different key than the orientalized performances that most are familiar with today. This was the style of recording by Michalis Patrinos in Greece, circa 1930, which was circulated in the United States by the Orthophonic label; another recording was made by Patrinos in New York City in 1931 as well.

The song's oriental melody has been so popular for so long that many people, from Morocco to Iraq, claim it to be a folk song from their own country. In fact, in the realm of Middle Eastern music, the song is a very simplistic one, since it is little more than going up and down the Hijaz Kar or double harmonic scale (E-F-G#-A-B-C-D#). This song has been performed in many keys, but is mostly played in the key of A minor. It still remains a well known Greek, Klezmer, and Arab folk song.

In 1941, Nick Roubanis, a Greek-American music instructor, released a jazz instrumental arrangement of the song, crediting himself as the composer. Since his claim was never legally challenged, he is still officially credited as the composer today worldwide, except in Greece where credit is variably given to either Roubanis or Patrinos. Subsequently Bob Russell, Fred Wise and Milton Leeds wrote English lyrics to the song. Rubanis is also credited with fine-tuning the key and the melody, giving it the Oriental sound that it is associated with today. The song soon became an "exotica" standard among the light swing (lounge) bands of the day.

Harry James recorded and released Misirlou in 1941 on Columbia 36390, and the song peaked at #22 on the U.S. chart.[5]

In 1943, Miriam Kressyn wrote Yiddish lyrics to the song. In 1944, Lebanese musician Clovis el-Hajj performed this song and called it "Amal". This is the only known Arabic language version of the song to date.

In 1946, pianist Jan August recorded a version of the song on Diamond Records (Diamond 2009), which reached #7 on the Billboard Jockey charts in the U.S.[6] This is the highest charting American version to date, although the later version by Dick Dale is far better known today.

In 1958, the song has been arranged and recorded by Arthur Lyman on "Taboo" (Hi-Fi Records SR806)

The song was rearranged as a solo instrumental rockguitar piece by Dick Dale in 1962. During a performance, Dale was bet by a young fan that he could not play a song on only one string of his guitar. Dale's father and uncles were Lebanese-American musicians, and Dale remembered seeing his uncle play "Misirlou" on one string of the oud. He vastly increased the song's tempo to make it into rock and roll. It was Dale's surf rock version that introduced "Misirlou" to a wider audience in the United States.

In 1967, The Devil's Anvil, a group of middle eastern folk musicians based in New York and featuring Felix Pappalardi, later bass guitarist for the heavy rock band Mountain, released a version of 'Misirlou' with lyrics in English by Pappalardi's wife, Gail Collins, on their Columbia Records LP called 'Hard Rock from the Middle East'

"Missirlù" was a 1967 Italian single, sung by Gino (Cudsi) and Dorine.

In 1945, a Pittsburgh women's musical organization asked Professor Brunhilde E. Dorsch to organize an international dance group at Duquesne University to honor America's World War II allies. She contacted Mercine Nesotas, who taught several Greek dances, including Syrtos Haniotikos (from Crete), which she called Kritikos, but for which they had no music. Because Pittsburgh's Greek-American community did not know Cretan music, Pat Mandros Kazalas, a music student, suggested the tune "Misirlou", although slower, might fit the dance.

The dance was first performed at a program to honor America's allies of World War II at Stephen Foster Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh on March 6, 1945. Thereafter, this new dance, which had been created by putting the Syrtos Kritikos to the slower "Misirlou" music, was known as Misirlou and spread among the Greek-American community, as well as among non-Greek U.S. folk-dance enthusiasts.

It has been a staple for decades of dances held at Serbian Orthodox churches across the U.S., performed as a kolo or circle dance. The dance is also performed to instrumental versions of "Never on Sunday" by Manos Hadjidakis – though in the Serbian-American community, "Never on Sunday" was popularly enjoyed as a couple's dance and actually sung in English. "Never on Sunday" was often one of only two songs performed in English at these dances, the other song being "Spanish Eyes" (formerly "Moon Over Naples") also internationally popular in its time.

The Misirlou dance also found its way into the Armenian-American community who, like the Greeks, were fond of line dancing, and occasionally adopted Greek dances. The first Armenian version of "Misirlou" was recorded by Reuben Sarkisian in Fresno the early 1950s. Sarkisian wrote the Armenian lyrics to "Misirlou" which are still sung today, however he wrote the song as "Akh, Anoushes" ("Ah, My Sweet") while later Armenian singers would change it to "Ah Anoush Yar" ("Ah, Sweet Lover"; Yar meaning sweetheart or lover, from Turkish).

The Dick Dale version of "Misirlou" is used in the opening scene of Pulp Fiction. The beginning of the song also made an appearance in the 1996 film Space Jam, during a short scene parodying Pulp Fiction, with Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam portraying Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield.

A version of the song performed by Patrick Abrial was used in the opening scene of the French film Taxi. Other versions of the song are featured in each of Taxi's sequels; Taxi 4 used the song "Pump It" by The Black Eyed Peas.

It was used when the Paris police join the final chase scene in the 2000 film Taxi 2

'Raat Se Kaho Ruke Zara', a song from the 1965 Bollywood film 'Lootera' is heavily influenced & inspired by Misirlou. The music was composed by the duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal & sung by the legendary Lata Mangeshkar with a full orchestra & traditional eastern instruments. The Lootera soundtrack CD was released by EMI & cataloged as CDF 120248. It also included the songs from the film Parasmani. The CD is now considered very obscure & rare.

Misirlou, from Klezmer to Surf Guitar (NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, January 8, 2006). (It should be noted that the program makes some patently incorrect statements – Rembetiko is not "a slow circle dance"; it does not have origins in Thraki; the Jews of Constantinople were Sephardim, not Askenazi, etc.)